Baked Egg Custard with Gruyere and Chives for Two

I love brunch, and because I love brunch, I also love brunch recipes, and really love brunch recipes that can be both made ahead, and scaled down to two so we can enjoy them on no other occasion than that I just wanted something special for breakfast.  This tasty little custard fills the bill quite nicely, goes together in a hurry, and will seem as if you labored all morning.  With nothing more needed than a little blender that can go easily into the dishwasher, clean-up is also a breeze.  The next time I make these, and I will, I'll add a little more of the grated Gruyere on top for a better presentation and just a tad more cheese.

Baked Egg Custard with Gruyere and Chives for Two

1/2 cup coarsely grated Gruyere
2 Tablespoons chopped chives
3 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon instant minced onion
3/8 cups whole milk
1 ounce cream cheese, softened
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F with rack in middle. 

Butter 2 6-oz. ramekins into which you will place 1/4 cup grated Gruyere and 1 tablespoon of chives in each. 

In a mini blender (if you have one, regular blender, if not) place eggs, minced onion, milk, cream cheese, and nutmeg along with a few gratings of freshly ground paper and a pinch of salt. 

Blend thoroughly.

Pour egg mixture over Gruyere and chives, and bake until puffed, set, and golden, about 22 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Have a great weekend!

This post is linked to:

Forget the Cake Crumb Cake Cookies

If you like crumb cake as much as I do then you'll have to admit that it's really more about the crumbs than it is the cake. The cake, generally an inch or so of dreadfully dry yellow cake (New Jersey Coffee Cake being one exception), is the price we have to pay for that thick layer of flavorful, crunchy crumbs. Well, suffer no more, I've come up with a solution! Cookies made of crumb topping so you can get what you want when you want.  Amazingly easy and with only a handful of ingredients, you can be a bit reckless when making them to give them the rustic look of a crumb topping.


Try them for yourself and see if you don't agree that these quite happily satisfy that crumb cake craving, in an acceptable form.  Excellent with morning coffee or afternoon tea.


Forget the Cake Crumb Cake Cookies
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 sticks of butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Place all ingredients into a medium mixing bowl and beat together until well blended and large crumbs start to form.  

Using your hands grab walnut-sized pieces of dough and place it rather haphazardly onto an ungreased baking sheet.  These should look unformed and rustic, like the crumb topping on a crumb cake, but sized like a medium cookie.  Bake for 15-17 minutes.  

Remove from oven and allow to set on the baking sheet for three minutes until removing to a wire rack to cool completely.  Sprinkle tops with powdered sugar. Makes 24.

This post is linked to:
Mouthwatering Monday

Made by You Monday
On the Menu Monday
Wow Us Wednesday Foodie Friday
Sweets For A Saturday
Cast Party Wednesdays

Melt-in-Your-Mouth Tarragon Chicken

You know me and cooking magazines -- I'm crazy about them!  So I had to try something from the new Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine that appeared in my mailbox on Wednesday.  

The word "Crockpot" leapt at me from the cover, most probably because it was 104 degrees at the time and a Crockpot seemed the only way to go.  As it turned out, it was.  I don't think I've ever had a tastier, more tender chicken than the one in this recipe.  Making the sauce outside of the Crockpot ensured a dish far more elegant that what is usually, umm, "crocked," and doing a bit of advanced prep (gathering, cleaning, and chopping herbs, zesting and juicing a lemon), made this a very easy meal.  There's a lot more to love in this issue, and I'll let you know as I test each recipe, but trust me on this one, it is, as Rachael would say, "Yum-o!"

This post is linked to:
Simply Delish Saturday
Savory Sunday

For a subscription to Everyday with Rachael Ray, click the image below:

Zucchini Gratin

Year after year I plant zucchini.  I have so many wonderful zucchini recipes to try that I always hope for a bumper crop.  Year after year I'm disappointed.  I just do not understand how some people can have oodles and gobs of them while I struggle for even one.  This year I got lucky.  I got two.  Two, very large, very healthy zucchini were the entire harvest of the four Buick-sized plants that have overtaken my garden.  Deciding which recipe to try was not easy, particularly since I have way more recipes than I do squash, but since Ina Garten has never failed me I chose her recipe for Zucchini Gratin from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook and was not disappointed.  Unlike my husband, who can take a vegetable or leave it, I could make a meal out of vegetables alone.  This delicious dish and a thick slice of crusty bread was all that I needed to have a very satisfying dinner (and having been so virtuous, how could I say "no" to dessert?).  I hope you give it a try!

Zucchini Gratin

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, plus extra for topping
1 pound yellow onions, cut in 1/2 and sliced (3 large)
2 pounds zucchini, sliced 1/4-inch thick (4 zucchini)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup hot milk
3/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
3/4 cup grated Gruyere


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a very large (12-inch) saute pan and cook the onions over low heat for 20 minutes, or until tender but not browned. Add the zucchini and cook, covered, for 10 minutes, or until tender. Add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg and cook uncovered for 5 more minutes. Stir in the flour. Add the hot milk and cook over low heat for a few minutes, until it makes a sauce. Pour the mixture into an 8 by 10-inch baking dish. 

Combine the bread crumbs and Gruyere and sprinkle on top of the zucchini mixture. Dot with 1 tablespoon of butter cut into small bits and bake for 20 minutes, or until bubbly and browned.

This post is linked to:

Foodie Friday
Food on Friday
Friday Favorites
Friday Fat Camp
Fantabulous Friday

Lemon Cream Cheese Pound Cake

It was 102 degrees here today, so not the best day for cranking up the oven, but I've been in such a mood for something lemony all summer long. Having recently returned from a lengthy baking hiatus, it was good to get back into the kitchen and bake. This Lemon Cream Cheese Pound Cake from Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewy food blog is one of the best pound cakes I've ever eaten.

The glaze was not part of the recipe. I just stirred lemon juice into powdered sugar and drizzled it over the top.

It was well worth the hot kitchen.

This post is linked to:

Cast Party Wednesday
What's Cooking Wednesday

Millie's Meatballs

I have no idea who Millie is, so don't ask me. It could have been the Millie who cut my hair when I was a little girl. It could have been the Millie who taught Sunday School at my church. I also had a great aunt Mildred, so it could have been her, but I don't honestly know. I'm not sure my mother knows, it's been that long ago. 

What I do remember is seeing and smelling delicious meatballs in Mother's most ornate chafing dish, with blue flames curling underneath. They were only made for special occasions and I was only allowed two before the guests arrived. 

When I began cooking on my own, this was the first recipe I requested. Instead of making the tiny 3/4 inch appetizer-size meatballs of my Mother's cocktail parties, I made them about twice that size and served them over extra wide eggs noodles for dinner. Now I can have them any time I want. And I do!

There are so many good things about this recipe. They are easy,  they can be made ahead, they freeze beautifully, they serve the dual purpose of being both appetizer and dinner, and further, made a bit larger are wonderfully tasty mini burgers when sandwiched between two halves of a little bun. Oh, did I mention that kids love them? That they are equally appropriate at cocktail parties as they are at a tailgate party? The perfect food. Thank you, Millie, whoever you are!

Over the course of years I've made some adjustments on this recipe.  You'll find them in parentheses as I wanted to leave the original recipe in tact.

Millie's Meatballs

1 pound ground beef (I use chuck)

1/2 cup crumbs (I use seasoned Italian bread crumbs)

1 egg

2/3 cup milk 

2 T. grated onion (I used dried minced onion)

1 teaspoon salt (I use Kosher)

1/8 teaspoon pepper (I use freshly ground black pepper)

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg (I use freshly grated nutmeg)

Mix together, form into small balls.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.  Pour a can of gravy* over the top and bake an additional 40 minutes.

*I use Jameson Beef Stock and make the gravy as directed by the instructions on the side of the jar

This post is linked to:

Delectable Tuesday

Tuesdays Tasty Tidbits

Tempt my Tummy Tuesdays

Tasty Tuesday Party

Tuesday Time Out

Tasty Tuesdays 

Lettuce Rejoice!

Week One: I planted the Salad Garden kit (Mesclun Spring Mix).  The seeds sprouted in two days.  Look at them grow!

I am so excited!  And if you like growing things as much as I do, then this little gadget is something that you must have.  I was lucky enough to get my AeroGarden as a gift from my son about four years ago and it has been producing ever since.  The price has dropped significantly since I first got mine, and there are a wider variety of sizes, shapes, colors, and seed kits from which to choose.  I always used to find myself a bit bereft when the cool fall weather would roll in, knowing that the growing season had pretty much come to an end.  Not anymore!  Now I grow a variety of lettuces, herbs, seasonings, and flowers indoors, all year round.  I don't represent the company in any way, I'm just an avid gardener who loves fresh herbs and lettuces, and thrills at seeing the first shoot come up from out of its little seed pod.

Week Two: This picture was taken last week. I have since harvested lettuces daily and still can't keep up with the amount we're getting. Alas, I don' t have enough room in my kitchen for this, so it's in the guest room.

 Week Three: I had to move the Aerogarden from the guest room into my studio in order to be able to raise the light two notches to accommodate the lettuce's rapid growth this past week.  Isn't it gorgeous?

With the holiday season coming up, you just might mention this to Santa.  It really is a lot of fun and, I'd think kids would find it particularly interesting just watching how food grows and harvesting it themselves, rain, or snow, or shine!

Click on any of these seed kits for more information, and get growing!

This post is linked to:

Metamorphosis Monday, This Week in My Garden

Tuesday Garden Party